A Neverending Story
by tanikara kohitsuji
Summary: Destiny brought them together on a mountaintop. Destiny tore them apart. But the story doesn't end there. Fate saw it fit to give them another chance, and another, and another, however many chances it takes to bring the lovers together.
1. Chapter 1 Beginnings: Oma and Shu

Oma tightened her mask. Silence was key. The first rule of her village was this: Never let them know you're coming. Be silent and swift.

She knew what her job was. Scout the area. Kill anyone who got in her way. This was a war, and her village took no prisoners.

Her mask, a red demon's face, kept her identity secret, made her feel invincible. It was her village's way. In wartime, you let no one know who you are. You don't let the enemy recognize you as a future target. So long as she wore the mask, she was safe from reprisal. As long as she hid behind this demon's face, they couldn't touch her.

She was the best at her job. Scouting the area. But that was really just another mask. Because scouting the area really meant, be an assassin. Murder anyone you saw, be it civilian or soldier. Because civilians can become soldiers, and soldiers kill your friends and family.

Shu smeared the war paint over his eyes, the final touch. He left his village, his arrows on his back. The first law of his town: Never leave unprepared. Be ready for an attack at any time.

* * *

He knew what he was supposed to do. Patrol the village borders. Keep out any invaders by whatever means necessary. This was a war, and the enemy must be kept out.

His paint, black base with blue stripes and swirls, intimidated the enemy, made him feel powerful. It was tradition where he came from. To imitate the spirits by wearing paint and gain their ability to inspire fear. Wear the face of that spirit whose powers you wished to have. So long as he wore the paint, he was swift as the eagles, invulnerable.

He was one of the best at patrolling the village. He was one of the few who consistently came back from his duty. But patrol the village was just another façade like his paint. His people were on the ropes. Patrol the village meant do you best not to die. Because they won't give you the chance to fight.

* * *

Oma was running between the trees, scaling the mountain between her and the enemy. She heard a noise and ducked behind a trunk. Rule two: Don't be seen. Use any available cover.

She unsheathed her two broadswords. She knew what to do. She whipped around the edge, ready to attack.

She made the fatal mistake then to pause before she killed him. And she broke the most important rule of all: Never view the enemy as anything but a thing to be eliminated. They are not people. They are pawns to be crushed. They do not feel, and you do not feel for them.

But the quickness with which he reached for his arrows inspired her respect. The hard way his eyes narrowed, wrinkling his paint, made her heart race. The pride with which he stood in his blue robes stirred her own pride for her village.

So she waited for him to make the first move because she had realized this sentry was a man who had the feeling of compassion. She waited to see if he would show mercy as she was.

* * *

Shu had found a clearing in the forest a reasonable distance from his hometown. Halfway between the two enemy villages, on the mountain. The second law: Don't lead the enemy back to the village. Never reveal its location by any means.

He drew his bow out of his quiver. He knew what to do. He had learned that you survived by leaving as little to chance as possible.

The enemy burst into the clearing, swords drawn. As soon as she entered his sight, he reached for an arrow. He notched it to his bowstring. He paused then. Because unlike all the other times he had been attacked, his masked opponent had yet to race forward to slay him. So, probably stupidly, he waited. Because he didn't want the guilt of attacking first on his conscience if this assassin wasn't going to.

He took his opponent in as he waited. The fierce red oni mask with holes for the eyes revealed wary brown eyes. The dusky red robes concealed the body, leaving the sex a mystery for now. A dark hood covered the hair, completing the androgynous look of an assassin. But the killer waited for him, as if reluctant to follow the unspoken rule.

When encountering the enemy, kill him on sight.

He had his own rule to this war. Never strike the first blow. Let them have the blood on their hands. The first blow is constituted by a continued desire to slay. If the opponent pauses and does not follow through with an attack, keep your guard up and wait for them.

* * *

"What are you waiting for?" Oma asked, lowering her voice to keep her identity a secret. "Why haven't you struck me down?"

"Because you haven't made any move to attack me."

She realized it then. She didn't even know why their villages had begun to fight. Only that this was the way things were. Bloodshed, fighting, murdering, plundering, killing. It was all she had ever known, all their two villages had known for generations.

She rose then, coming out of her defensive position, and sheathed her blades. Her mind screamed at her to remember all the people who had died, all the generations whose blood had been spilled. But her body wouldn't obey.

Because truth was, she was sick of this. Sick of hiding in the shadows, striking down the enemy from them. She was tired of this cowardly way of fighting. She was tired of murdering. She was weary of fighting for a cause she didn't even know, let alone believe in.

She was fed up with tradition running her life.

Oma reached up and removed her mask.

* * *

Shu watched in awe as the unthinkable happened. The enemy removed the mask. And as the demon's face fell away, an angel's appeared.

For beneath the façade was a woman more beautiful than he had ever imagined. Her porcelain skin was free of war paint, pure. Her chocolate brown eyes were serious but clear of hate.

"I won't attack you if you don't attack me," she said in a musical voice.

He put his arrow back in the quiver and put his bow on the ground.

"I'll put my weapons on the ground if you do the same," he announced.

She nodded and placed her sheathed swords on the ground. Then she reached down her leg wrappings and removed several throwing needles. These joined her swords. Then she slid her hands up her pant legs and removed shuriken. These were followed by kunai from her waist. Finally, she sat down and took off her shoes that had spikes in the soles. She tossed them to join their companions and stood, barefoot. She stilled.

"You finished?" he asked dryly.

"Do you want to pat me down to see?" she answered with a raised eyebrow.

Shu was suddenly grateful for his war paint hiding the traitorous blush on his cheeks. He tossed his quiver down to join the weapon pile between them.

"That's it," he said with a smirk.

"The paint. It has to go. I took off my mask and completely disarmed myself. You should trust me enough to do the same."

"I don't have any water," he answered.

"There's a stream about a furlong to east of this clearing."

He nodded and they set off together.

* * *

Oma was shocked by the difference in his face after he removed the war paint. It was softer, less intimidating. He had hazel eyes, brown in the shadows but green in the sunlight. His black hair was long for a man, but she reminded herself that his village did seem to find that more acceptable for a man than hers did.

"I'm Oma," she informed him quietly, sitting on the bank.

"Shu."

"I should have killed you."

"Why didn't you?" he asked.

She tried to ignore the pleasure racing through her at the sound of his baritone. "Because I'm tired of fighting. I don't even know why I'm fighting. No one does. We've forgotten why we started this war, just that we can't stop fighting. And I'm sick of fighting for a cause I don't even know."

"We don't know the reason why we're fighting either. We just can't stop it."

"The two of us can stop fighting each other. It's a start," Oma announced.

Shu held his hand out to her, and she took it. She went to stand and slid on the muddy bank. She fell into the water, pulling him down with her. And as the water soaked her through and the stony streambed dug into her back, she knew her world had forever been altered.

Shu slowly pushed himself off of her.

They stared into each other's eyes. His looked blue right now, and hers were probably golden in the sunlight. The world disappeared. He leaned closer.

Their lips touched, and she knew she would never be the same person she had been before this day.

* * *

Shu gathered his bow and arrows as she finished strapping her kunai to her waist.

"I'll see you," he lied.

"Tomorrow, by the cave of the badgermoles?" Oma asked.

Surprised, but not upset at the idea, he nodded. He knew the place.

She strapped on her mask, and the angel he had fallen for disappeared. He turned away. The softest rustle of leaves told him she had left, and he began his trek back to his village.

* * *

It became a routine. Every day, they met at the same spot. Then they sneaked away to the caves to do things they knew they shouldn't.

The first time the badgermoles had bended their way into their cave, Oma had screamed. Shu had laughed, and soon she joined him as the creatures snuffled closer to them. One licked her, and she moaned in disgust as the slobber dripped off her. He said that she looked pretty covered in drool. She shook her head at that.

The third time the badgermoles interrupted them, the lovers began to wonder if this was more than coincidence. If maybe, just maybe, these creatures were trying to tell them something. They looked into each other's eyes and saw the same question. Is this our destiny? Were we meant to meet, meant to steal away to the caves to meet?

The fifth time, Shu had jokingly imitated their odd movements that shoved the earth around without ever touching it. Oma had laughed and tried it. He repeated the motion, then she did it. Finally, they moved in perfect harmony and moved a boulder ten feet away from its original spot. They looked at each other in shock. They tried again, and the boulder moved again. The lovers realized this was something special, that only they could do.

Their meetings fell into a routine after that. Kiss until the badgermoles arrived, then follow the creatures, imitating their movements. It was Oma who said they should give the techniques they had learned a name. Shu was the one who named it earthbending.

They found the glowing crystals together one day as they rested in a dark cavern one day. Shu kissed Oma lightly in the dark, and the room had blazed with light. They continued to experiment with the strange rocks until they realized the crystals responded to love. Inspired, the two quickly agreed that to keep their secret meetings safe, they would earthbend tunnels. Make a maze beneath the mountain that they would navigate with their love.

The badgermoles stopped coming then. But Oma and Shu continued bending their labyrinth. Their meetings became regular, like clockwork. Gradually, they moved supplies into the main room of their tunnel system, the room where they first found the crystals. Her brushes, his war paint, her weapons, his flint. This place was becoming their home away from home where their love flourished.

Then came that horrible day.

* * *

Oma had run breathless that day through the tunnels. She could barely believe it. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Pregnant. With Shu's baby. She was happy that it was his, but heartbroken that her child would never be able to know his father the way he should, to have his father there to talk to every day.

She needed to tell Shu the news. So she sat in the room, the crystals shining around her. She waited, as she had the first day they met when she had made her grave mistake, or so she had thought at the time.

Oma waited for hours. Shu was never late. He never left her waiting like this. He would never leave her here without at least a note apologizing for the change in schedule. She began to worry then. Wonder where he was. Had something happened to him? Was he hurt? Was his family hurt? What was keeping him on this important day?

She finally lost her patience and went to find him.

Oma found his body at the entrance of his half of the tunnel labyrinth. A poisoned dagger in his back. Shu's hazel eyes were closed, and she knew they would never open again.

And just like their first kiss, she knew she would never be the same again. Because her heart was breaking, and it felt like fire was burning through her veins and down her cheeks.

Shu wasn't there to wipe those tears with his cool hands though. He was lying dead, killed by her village on his way to see her.

The badgermoles snuffled up behind her as she screamed with rage. Boulders burst from the ground, flying through the air by her might.

Oma ran then, to the top of the mountain. She could see both villages, on the two mountaintops on either side of her. Crying for her dead lover, for her child who would never meet his father no matter what she did, she used the power of her earthbending. She released all the sorrow in an explosive shifting of the hills, creating more mountains, towers of rock, and leveling other hills. Every kiss, every breath she had breathed with Shu, everything from their time together, she threw into her bending. The earth quaked with the strength of her love for him.

Oma wanted to destroy everyone. Her people though they be, they had murdered her lover. His village was equally to blame. They could have ended the fight, done better at protecting each other.

But she couldn't bring herself to destroy the villages. She remembered what she had said to Shu. "It's a start." Remembered the question in their eyes after the badgermoles. Is this our destiny?

So she spared them as she had spared her lover at their first meeting. Returned the land to its original appearance. Let the tremors of her bending subside. She sat down then and waited. As the moon rose above her, the first trickles of the opposing villages' people found her. When the flow of people subsided, she bended a platform for herself.

She told them her story then of how she came to love Shu. . Told them of their discovery of this technique, earthbending. Of how she had become disgusted with the war between their villages.

"I'll bet none of you even know why you're fighting anymore!" she challenged the crowd. "Do any of you remember why we're enemies? How this war started?"

And in the silence that reigned after her questions, the villagers realized she was right. No one knew. With that knowledge, they forgot all the rules and laws of their war and looked at each other. They saw then that the other side they had hated for generations was merely made up of normal people. With families and loved ones like themselves.

"I declare this war to be over. May we enter a new era of peace together!" Oma announced. She felt a rush of heat through her belly then and knew that she was losing the baby.

She knew too that with the baby she and Shu had created, she would lose her life. So with her final bit of strength, she created the foundation for a city on the dividing mountain.

Then, exhausted, Oma collapsed never to wake again.

* * *

But the two villages united to build a city over the caves the lovers had met in. In the memory of the two warriors who brought peace to the land through their love, the villagers named their new city Omashu. The people learned how to earthbend by imitating the badgermoles as Oma had described. Then they moved the two lovers' bodies into the caves where they had built their lives together. In the center room, they earthbended two sepulchers and laid their remains to rest in them. On the walls of the room, they carved the sad story of the separated lovers Oma and Shu. They added a line on the story and coffins.

"Love is brightest in the dark."


	2. Chapter 2 Middles: Zuko and Katara

He felt it when he saw the mask. Drawn to it. Zuko's fingers brushed over it, and it was a familiar feeling. The blue demon mask felt like an old friend. But he had never seen it before. His memory said the mask hadn't been blue back then, but as he tried to define "back then" he found himself at a loss. Besides he also knew it wasn't the same mask.

Red. The last one had been red. But something in his mind told him that this time it had to be blue. Like… Shu's eyes before their first kiss.

Zuko blinked and the disturbing memory vanished. But the mask was still here, feeling so right. So he bought it.

* * *

She felt it the first time she saw him. Katara knew him from somewhere. But she had never seen this man before.

But something in her mind triggered. Like a long forgotten memory.

Pain. Love. Forbidden.

But like the smoke his ship was belching, the thoughts were insubstantial and faded quickly.

She was suddenly reminded of the way she had felt when she first started bending the waves. Pushing and pulling the water. The familiarity of imitating nature. The sudden thought that there should be more resistance, more effort in this. The boulder was too light.

But she brushed it off as the prince of the Fire Nation did what firebenders do. He began to destroy her world as she knew it.

* * *

Zuko grabbed her wrists as she stumbled away from him. He felt a zing of electricity, of power, of recognition, dance up his arms. Her big blue eyes stared at him in horror.

That same old feeling from the mask and the swords.

But he ignored it. He did what he wanted. "I'll save you from the pirates."

Bargaining with her as she was tied to a tree. Her stubbornness. Just like Shu had been. They may not be the same people anymore, but Shu was still Shu. Stubborn as could be sometimes and so easy to bend others. Why was it that Katara seemed to display only the worst of Shu's traits.

He walked away then, trying to forget the frightening thoughts in his mind. Because he didn't want to think about why he knew them.

* * *

Katara was frozen as he entered the Spirit Oasis. Felt her heart race then stop. This wasn't the way things were supposed to be. He wasn't supposed to threaten her. But he attacked with his flames, and she fought back.

But her thoughts wandered as she walked away from the frozen prince. Zuko was supposed to wait, then lay down his weapons, remove his mask. Not that he had a mask on or weapons. What was this memory? She squeezed her eyes shut, the memory paining her. An androgynous figure sheathing its broadswords. A red demon mask peeling away to reveal a beautiful angel.

Then she heard the hiss of steam and turned, calling her water up. But the impact of the flames on her element thrust her back into the wooden pole. As she crumpled to the ground, she could see him in the smoke.

"You rise with the moon; I rise with the sun."

She wanted to ask why they couldn't stop the fighting. They weren't supposed to fight. They were lovers. Weren't they, Oma?

* * *

Zuko had always tried to ignore these flashes of misplaced memories. Like the feeling of familiarity when he began to learn firebending. Like this wasn't the first time he had imitated bending moves. Even odder when these feelings repeated when Iroh taught him the waterbending-inspired lightning redirect. Like he had done this in another life.

Or the familiarity of the dual broadswords in his hands. The way they naturally came to him. Easily picking up how to wield them. As if he had used them before.

The oni mask was part of a greater puzzle. What was this? Why did he remember things he had never done before? Did anyone else have these memories? Or just him?

Just like sneaking around with the blue demon mask as the Blue Spirit was natural. It was while he was waiting for a Fire Nation patrol that the first rule came to him like lightning. Never let them know you're coming. Be silent and swift.

The thought scared Zuko to the core. It was so familiar, like he had heard it a thousand times. But he hadn't. He was sure of it. The prince was so rattled he left without attacking the patrol.

* * *

Katara felt it as soon as she heard the name of the caves. A pull, a tickle in the back of her mind. Even stronger when she saw the caves. Familiar. Like she had come here before.

But she brushed off the feeling. She'd always had these feelings. And that's all they were. Déjà vu. Nothing real. Just a coincidence.

Then she'd gone inside. And she had this strange urge to earthbend. But she was a waterbender. So how could she earthbend? Why did she even think she could?

Her mind whispered the answer. Because you used to.

She had wanted to run when she and Aang found the chamber. It was too familiar. Her war paint should be here somewhere. To apply before going home.

And as she read the story aloud, she already knew the tale. She could have told it even if it was pitch dark. And yet she couldn't say how she knew it.

"Love is brightest in the dark," she finished reading.

A kiss in the dark. Shining stones. Secret tunnels.

And she wondered about these memories. Had she been involved in this legend? Yes. She knew her body was buried in that coffin. Shu's coffin.

And she wondered why the fates had sent her back. What did they stand to gain? Hadn't Shu and Oma fulfilled their destinies?

As she and Aang discussed how to get out of the caves, the torch burned low. Agreed, she and the Avatar leaned closer to kiss. The torch sputtered, dimming.

Shouldn't she be about to kiss someone else? Because the airbender wasn't Oma. This didn't feel right. Then the torch went out and the crystals flared to life.

But Katara knew it was probably all Aang. Because her heart was thumping hard repeating a name and it wasn't the Avatar's. Zuko, Zuko, it said. Because the red of his robes felt right in her foggy déjà vus.

* * *

Zuko tumbled down the slope into the cave. This was not how he usually entered caves.

"Zuko?" she asked, and he knew the voice. It felt right, her saying his name. But was that true? Or was it those memories that overran his mind when he was near her?

He looked up at her and he saw a man's silhouette over hers. The crystals were glowing.

A kiss in the dark, crystals flaring to life.

He had seen these crystals before. They reacted to love. They had inspired the tunnels only they could navigate.

Zuko was in the present though. And if the rocks lit with love, then one of them was in love. He could feel the pressure, the tension build between them as the conversation continued.

The pressure broke when she offered to heal him.

Just like when he had laid down his swords as Oma.

Then the tension was a different kind from before. As Katara laid her hand on his face, over his scar, he closed his eyes. And memories flooded through him.

A kiss in the stream. Bursting into a clearing. An arrow. Taking off all the weapons concealed in the clothes. Removing an oni mask. Imitating badgermoles. A baby. A dead body at the tunnel entrance. Shu was dead. Why? Stop them all. This grief. It's too much. Stop all the fighting!

* * *

Katara knew she had made a mistake as soon as she touched Zuko. The memories were splitting her head with unfathomable pain.

Tossing arrows to the ground. Washing off war paint. Being pulled down. A kiss. Laughing at the badgermoles. Moving the boulder together. "Let's call it earthbending." Oma was waiting. Had to get there. The pain was so strong. My back burns. Stop it! Stupid. Shouldn't have let my guard down. Dying outside the cave. I'll never see her again. She'll be so confused and heartbroken.

But then Aang and Iroh burst in and saved Katara from her memories. She ran to Aang and hugged him, feeling safe in his arms, with no weird memories cracking her skull in half. She didn't want these thoughts. She didn't want to have this feeling that she knew Zuko from another life. Because that meant they were destined to be together.

And that was too much like an arranged marriage, leaving her with no choice.

* * *

She smeared the red paint across her eyelid. It felt right, even familiar somehow, even though Katara had never donned war paint before. She saw a brief vision of blue paint on her fingers which vanished like smoke. The red paint felt right, not because it was the only paint color she had. Because it was the same color as Oma's robes. But who was Oma?

The only face the waterbender could summon was Zuko's. She shook her head. She knew she had heard the name in this life. She frowned at the though "this life." Had she had another?

She knew it from the legend of Omashu she realized. But how had she known Oma's robes had been red? The blue-eyed girl shivered in fright. Whose memories were these?

She finished dressing as the Painted Lady. But even though she knew she looked like the statue, her outfit didn't feel right. It should be blue, her mind told her. But she had been forced to get rid of her blue clothes when they entered the Fire Nation.

* * *

He rolled with her, out of the rocks' path. They stopped, him over her, their bodies touching. But it felt wrong. He should be below, in the stream. He had been the one who slipped first.

"What are you doing?" Katara demanded as Zuko tried to ignore the pounding in his head.

"Keeping rocks from crushing you," he answered. Moving the boulder together by accident. Bending tunnels to meet in secret. Badgermole drool dripping off her—no him.

He was the one with drool on him, but he was a girl in his memory. The ache in Zuko's head was increasing the longer he touched Katara.

"Ok, I'm not crushed. You can get off me now," the waterbender snarled and darted out of his embrace.

The pain subsided when the contact was broken. He couldn't describe it. Perhaps the best way to put it was there was a dam in his mind. But it had some small cracks and holes, and occasionally memories leaked out. Or he got this sense of déjà vu. However, the dam never broke. Touching Katara though made this charge bounce between them, wearing at the dam, causing it to crack more and quicker. So long as they were together, the memories seemed stronger, more clear. Like he was living them for the first time.

* * *

Katara ran down the hall, her water tentacles following her. He was behind her. It felt right, she thought as they bended their way through the ship. Bending together.

Not that she would tell Zuko that. Because he probably didn't have these weird memories she had had for her all her life. Odd feelings that she was growing more and more sure were from a past life. And she was pretty sure she knew who she had been.

But she could remember creating tunnels under a mountain. The glowing crystals lighting their way. Except she was a guy and Zuko was a girl. They were earthbending together. They weren't bending fire and water. They were bending the same element. The only ones who could bend earth.

Secret meetings. The taste of her—his?—lips on hers. It confused her trying to keep things straight when the memories started. Because they began to overlap with the present and get mixed up. What was real? What wasn't?

Katara burst into the cabin of the ship and forced the memories away.

* * *

Zuko jumped in front of the lightning. He couldn't let it hit her. Last time, he had been the one who'd had to live without a lover, even if it had been brief. He didn't want to do it again.

He wanted to be the one this time. If someone had to die, let it be him. He'd gotten her into this mess. Besides, it wasn't fair if she died twice.

And as he lay twitching from the shocks racing through his system, he remembered.

His name had been Oma. Katara had gone by the name Shu back then. Back before the Avatar cycle began. They had been in love. They'd met because of the war between their villages. Shu'd been an archer on patrol to keep the enemy out. He'd drawn his bow so quickly as Oma had leapt out. It'd been that speed that touched her heart first. But his willingness to lay down his arms, to go along with her had only made her fall more. It had developed so quickly. They'd met the badgermoles, realized their destiny. They had learned to earthbend together. Then her own town had murdered Shu. She'd ended the war for him then. But lost their unborn child and her life in the process.

And here it was repeating itself. He was dying this time though. Because their people were at war again. And he'd done nothing to stop it until it was too late. Destiny? Or was fate giving them a chance to do things right?

Only Zuko suspected they weren't doing things right.

* * *

As she stood next to the new Fire Lord, Katara made her decision. The memories with him were real. She had been Oma's lover Shu. She and Zuko might be destined to be together. The fates might have given them a second chance. But she wasn't going to take it.

Because he obviously didn't remember being Oma. She was the only one with the whacked memories. Zuko apparently had no odd déjà vu moments, no unbidden memories from past lives bothering him. Even though he must have them. His mind just suppressed them like it was supposed to.

And she was scared. The memories scared her. The way they tangled up with the present, confusing her. The odd way they ensnared her heart, changed her emotions. It scared her.

And Katara hated fear fearing herself. The best way to rid herself of these memories was to be with Aang. To never see or touch Zuko again. Because then, they would never bother her.

So she married an airbender and lived out her days with him. But as she lay dying, she wondered if she had done the right thing. And something told her she hadn't. She'd messed things up.


	3. Chapter 3 Endings: Hisako and Genji

_Once upon a time…_

Hisako sneaked outside the main building. She plastered herself to the wall, praying the guards wouldn't see her. The girl held her breath as she inched along the wall toward the back garden gate.

Ten feet to go.

A guard neared her on his patrol, and Hisako froze.

Hisako darted out into the city. She ran, free at last. She spun around as she continued running. Her eyes took in the spinning stars above, her dark hair floating around her. A pure, beautiful smile was on her face. And for a moment, the world around her was gone.

Until she crashed into something. Or more accurately someone.

The man caught her wrists as she stumbled back. "Princess?"

She raised her gaze to a pair of eyes as blue as the deepest ocean. Her heart stopped beating, and she knew. They had done this before. She had seen those eyes.

… _this is how we met._

"Shu," she whispered before she even knew what she was doing.

"What?" he asked.

"I know you," she continued, confused.

He looked at her for a moment, puzzled. "Zuko," he murmured.

"That's not my name. I'm a girl and that's a boy's name," the princess retorted. "I'm Princess Hisako of the Fire Nation."

"Genji, prince of the Northern Water Tribe," he answered with just as haughty an air as she had had.

"Don't make fun of me!" the princess said snippily.

"Who said I was making fun of you?"

"Your tone did!"

"Riiiiiight."

But before she can retort, the guards have surrounded them.

"Princess! Sneaking out again?"

She stares down at the ground bitterly, thinking of how close she came to escaping her fate.

* * *

"_Zuko!"_

_Someone running, skating around her—him. _

_The pressure on his chest. Feels so wonderful._

"_Shu!"_

_Bending, shaking the earth for him._

_The pain in her stomach. Burns like fire._

Hisako awoke with a start, breathing heavily. She passed a hand across her eyes, trying to banish the images.

"Just a dream."

"Princess, are you awake?" the twin crones asked from outside her door.

"Yes."

"Excellent. Your father's waiting for you in the throne room to discuss your marriage."

The firebender rolled over in her bed, pulling her covers up over her head. "Never mind. I'm not awake!"

"That won't work, Princess."

"Pity," she muttered as she finally rolled out. She remembered the boy from last night. What was it about him that seemed so familiar?

_Her eyes, bright blue, looking into his, wide in shock and fear. "I'll save you from the pirates."_

Hisako put a hand up to her head, a pain forming behind her eyes. The two crones noticed this gesture as they came in.

"Princess?" the one on the left (she's Rin, right?) asked.

"Something wrong?" her twin asked (Ran, if she was correct about the other one).

"Yes," the young princess replied, a fake smile on her face. "I'm fine." _It always happens when I remember anything from my dreams when I'm awake. No need to worry._

"Which dress, Your Highness?" they asked her in unison.

She set aside all thought of her strange dreams. "The red one." Because it feels right.

Hisako entered the throne room. She approached the impenetrable wall of flames where her father's shadow resided. "Father," she said as she bowed, prostrating herself on the floor.

And it felt so familiar, groveling before the Fire Lord. Shouldn't she be scarred when she rises? But she sat back, all prim and proper posture, and her face was still perfect.

"Ah, you're finally here."

_Once upon a time…_

"Hisako, I'd like to introduce your intended." Her father directed her attention to the doorway.

In stepped a young man. Tall, with all too familiar blue eyes.

His eyes widened at the same time as hers, recognizing those smoldering amber eyes and dark hair.

"You!" they shouted simultaneously, pointing at each other.

"I take it you know each other?" the Fire Lord asked, his gaze darting between them.

"Not really," Hisako replied, turning her face from Genji's with a sour look.

"We just ran into each other last night," the Water Tribe prince explained.

"You didn't mention you were my fiancé."

"I told you who I was! You didn't believe me."

"Tch."

"All right. As I was saying," the Fire Lord continued. "This is my daughter Hisako. With your union we will forge an alliance with our opposing element, ensuring peace will endure."

"I don't want to marry him."

"That makes me feel so welcome," Genji drawled.

"I won't be forced into this," Hisako announced. "If you try to force me to, I will run."

"Just like you've been saying you will for the past month since I told you about this," her father sighed.

"I'll do it!"

"Sure you will," Genji interjected sarcastically.

"Oh, like you didn't run for an entire year from me!" she snapped before she even knew what she had said.

Both teens froze and stared at each other.

"What?" he asked.

"You… I… forget it." _It's just me. I'm messed up. It's why my dad's trying to get rid of me._

* * *

Genji was resting out on the balcony of his suite when he saw the figure steal out of the palace. He sat up a little straighter and watched it for a moment. The person paused to check for pursuers and the moonlight struck her face.

Hisako.

He was moving before she even turned back around.

* * *

Hisako breathed a sigh of relief as her airship floated into the clouds. She had made it. She had actually managed to escape her fate of marrying that barbaric waterbender. She relaxed into the side of the ship for a moment, her eyes slipping closed. She took a minute to enjoy the wind caressing her face. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, fully relaxed. Though she had a strange feeling she ought to be up at the bow, keeping an eye out for a flying bison.

"So where are we going?" Genji asked.

"Don't know," she answered without hesitation. Then she realized Genji should not be here. He was supposed to be back in the palace. Not in her airship. Her eyes snapped open as she jerked upright.

Yes, there he was, all smug blue eyes. Just like Katara had been when she had bended that globe of ice at the North Pole. Hisako blinked and the memory was gone like a wisp of smoke.

"What are you doing here?!" she demanded, standing angrily.

"I couldn't let my fiancée wander around the world without a proper escort, now could I?" Genji answered, perfectly calm and unruffled.

Hisako gritted her teeth. Didn't he ever lose his cool? It infuriated her all the more that she was quick to snap and he was so even keeled.

"Stop calling me that!" she snapped.

"What? My fiancée?"

"Yes! Don't force me to be with you! I don't want to be with you! It's too much like fate!" Because that means that she has to be with him because she was supposed to be.

Just like she had thought as he lay, lightning arching off him. Twitching, his heart pounding erratically as Katara fought. Remembering being Oma, knowing that they were messing up again. Weren't they, Shu? Or was it Katara?

"Hey, you all right?" Genji asked. "You've got a weird look on your face."

Hisako stirred, breaking out of her memories (but were they really hers? Or Zuko's? Or Oma's? Who was she really?)

…_this is how we lived. _

"So what's the plan, oh great one?" he asked, satisfied that she was acting normally again.

She sent him a glare (_Don't even try to outglare me, buster! I've got two lifetime's experience head start!_). She stalked over to him. "_I _am going to see the world. _You_," she emphasized the word with a poke to his chest. "Are getting off at the first port."

"Aww," he said. "But I love field trips!"

"_What? Everyone else went on a life-changing field trip with Zuko!" a blind earthbender said, clinging to his (her?) arm._

"This is not a field trip!"

"What is it then?"

She lost it then. Well and truly lost it. Was this guy pretending to be stupid or was he just dumber than a sack of bricks?! "It's called running away from an arranged marriage, idiot!" she shouted.

Genji blinked at her, eyes wide in shock.

"And most people don't bring along the fiancé, last I checked! If they did, it would be called eloping, NOT running away! Got it?"

He was quiet as she finished, breathing heavily.

"You've got quite the temper don't you?" he said at last, in that oh so even voice of his.

Did nothing ruffle this guy?!

She let out a scream of frustration, followed by a fiery snort.

"Um, don't know if you've noticed this, Hisako, but you're sorta breathing fire."

She tackled him then and they both rolled to the floor.

"Ow! Watch it!"

She flipped them over.

"Were you dropped on your head as a baby?!" She grabbed a chunk of his hair and pulled.

"Ow! Watch the words! And hair!" He elbowed her and threw her off.

"Arrogant little—" Hisako jumped onto his back and grabbed his hair again as she clung for dear life.

"Violent—" Genji slammed her into the furnace and she yelped and let go.

"Conceited—" She kicked him in the shin.

"Uncute—" he hissed as he held his aching leg.

"Barbaric—" she retorted with a punch.

"Psycho—" He dodged.

"Peasant!"

"What?" he stared at her like she had grown a second head.

"_You little peasant. You've found a master, haven't you?"_

"You heard me!"

Genji's brow twitched. "Enough!" He drew the water out of the air and used it to push the princess against the side of the boat and freeze her.

"Hey! No fair! I didn't know you were a bender!"

"Like it was fair of you to pull on my hair!"

"Oh don't worry, you still have all of it, pretty boy," she retorted as she melted the ice.

Genji smirked. "Did you just call me pretty boy?"

She flushed a little. "No."

His smirk became a grin. "You did."

"I didn't mean it as a compliment."

"Keep telling yourself that."

* * *

Hisako docked the airship at the first port she could.

"You're leaving!" she said, pointing an angry finger at Genji.

"You sure you don't have any Water Tribe blood in you?" he asked, following her off the ship.

"Why do you ask that?" she growled.

"Because you're like a glacier."

She snickered at this. "Only around you, Genji. Only around you."

"Why don't you like me?" he asked bluntly.

"Is that lack of tact part of being a barbaric waterbender?" she retorted, avoiding his question.

"No, I'll have you know the Water Tribes are not barbaric. We are as sophisticated as the Fire Nation."

"Fine. Is that lack of tact part of being a waterbender?" she rephrased.

"No. I think it's part of being royal," he replied, smirking. "You don't seem to have that much of it either."

The barest trace of a smile crossed her lips. "Well at least we both know it."

"Don't think I haven't noticed that you haven't answered the question," Genji said.

"_I don't think this'll be much of a rematch."_

"I don't like being forced to do something."

"Not many people do. But then, why direct all your animosity at me? Why not at your father? He's the one who agreed to give your hand in marriage."

She opened her mouth to reply but closed it with a snap. He had a point. Why did she shove all of it on Genji? What had he done except follow his parents' wishes?

"I suppose, because you're someone I won't feel guilty about blaming. I don't know you so it's easy to avoid the guilt."

"Not very nice to me though."

Hisako considered this. "I suppose I owe you an apology."

"_You really want to know? Hmm, maybe you could re-conquer Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth King! Or-- I know!-- you could bring my mother back!"_

Why did she feel like she always messed up with him? Her? Was it just a part of opposing elements? Ticking the other half off?

"I'll accept on one condition."

The princess bit her lip. Why did that spark currents of fear in her?

"You let me join you."

"Why do you want to join me?" she asked, turning away as she felt her cheeks heat. Traitorous body. She did not like him, and she was not blushing!

"You're not the only one stuck in this boat. Besides, someone's gotta make sure you don't accidentally incinerate some town."

She paused as she fished her purse out as they neared the market. "You make it sound like I burn every place I visit."

"You do have that habit. Remember my village, Kyoshi Island—?" he broke off. His blue eyes considered her, spooked.

She blinked at him. She trained her eyes on the ground. "Almost like we've done this before," she said quietly.

"Yeah."

"That'd be crazy though, right?"

* * *

Their second stop was at the Western Air Temple about two weeks later. (They were taking their time, okay?!) Rebuilt by Avatar Aang and his good friend Fire Lord Zuko after the Hundred Year War, it now overflowed with airbenders. It was entirely populated by women.

"This is nice." Genji said, surveying the room she was staying in for the next three days of their visit.

Hisako looked around, taking in the yellow and orange décor. "I suppose."

"I'm sorry. Does the Air Nomad color scheme not fit your high-bred Fire Nation tastes?" he teased.

"Jerk," she shot back.

"Yeah, love ya too." He flopped on her bed. "Why's your room so much better than mine?" he groaned.

"Because you're in the far wing reserved for any males who visit?"

"But I'm a prince! And a guest!"

"Well, you know if you really hate your quarters, you could always try to share a bed with some airbender tonight," she replied airily, waggling an eyebrow.

"Um, engaged," he pointed out.

"In name only. Face it. We barely know each other, and we aren't best friends. I'm surprised I haven't roasted you and eaten your crispy brown Water Tribe skin for lunch yet," Hisako joked.

"You wound me!" Genji replied, dramatically flinging an arm across his forehead.

"Oh come on. I'm sure some young pretty airbending girl would welcome such a big, strong, manly waterbender as you into her bed," she said, sitting on the edge of her bed.

He suddenly grabbed her arm, pulling her down as he sat up. The princess was about to protest when she caught his eye as he leaned over her.

"What if I want a pretty, high-tempered, firebending princess in my bed?" he asked, his blue eyes hot.

She gaped up at him trying to find some witty reply.

"_I'll save you from the pirates."_

Why had she been so much better at banter when she was a boy?!

Hisako sat up, shoving him off. "Th-then I guess you'll just have to live with discomfort."

She was about to go back to her room when she remembered she was in her room. She pointed at the door imperiously. "Now get out of my room!"

Genji looked disappointed for a second, but it vanished and he stood. "I'll take that as a no then." Then he brushed past her, sending a shiver through her.

She glared at his retreating back. Darn hormones.

_

* * *

_

_Once upon a time…_

It was a month later when they arrived at Omashu. Of all times to arrive, they arrived during a festival for Oma and Shu. This spooks her for some reason that she can't place. Like she knows it will remind her of something she doesn't want to remember.

Something that she sees in her dreams every night, hears whispers of every day when she's with this man.

"Wh-why don't we just go somewhere else?" Hisako suggested. Ever since that night at the air temple, things had been different between them. Sometimes she'd catch his eyes on her before he turned out to look at the landscape. Worse, sometimes she found her eyes straying toward him.

"What? You scared of a festival?" Genji teased.

"Yes," she blurted out before she could even think of anything to refute his question with.

His blue eyes swung over to lock with her golden ones. "You are?"

"I… I just… Something's just telling me not to."

"You're afraid to remember," he said as she turned to walk away.

"What?!"

"You're afraid that maybe your dreams aren't just fantasies. That maybe they're a message across the years from your past lives."

"Wh-what do you know of my dreams?" she retorted.

"I know because you talk in your sleep in them. And… I have them too."

"Y-you do?"

"No, I just called you a boy's name because I figured your breasts were dragon-oranges," he said with a roll of his eyes and a dry voice.

She accidentally lit his shoes on fire. Don't look at her like that. She was aiming for that rock by his feet, and she just so happened to miss it. And his feet just so happened to be where her poor aim was.

"Ow! Hey!"

"Oops, my hand slipped."

"Well, you just caused your own downfall," the waterbender declared, heading toward the lights of the festival, having doused his shoes with his water.

"What? Why are you going over there?!" the firebender asked, running to catch up with him.

"I need new shoes since you ever so kindly roasted mine. And you're buying them since it was your pyromania that destroyed them."

She grumbled something about stupid waterbenders and their inability to dodge. As the crowd thickened, she began to panic. Genji was pulling further away as she struggled to force her way through the mass of people.

Just as she completely despaired of ever catching back up to him, he was there before her, blue eyes soft as he extended a hand. "Hold on and stay close."

Hisako blushed but took his offer. Their fingers intertwined automatically. They passed stall after stall, the bright colorful lights beautiful against the dark night sky.

_Pulling her out of the stream. Falling._

Genji glanced back at her, and their eyes caught. His were blue as the summer sky, pulling her in.

_Hazel eyes that looked blue right now._

A grin split his face and her heart beat faster. "Come on, I think I see a clothing stall down there."

A few minutes before, Hisako forked over her money reluctantly as Genji waited in a new pair of shoes. As she went over to him, a small lilt of music caught her ears.

The prince pulled her along. "Come on!" A few more feet and they broke free of the crowd to find a dance floor. On the side sat several musicians while couples danced in the square.

Their hands slipped apart and the princess was surprised by the rush of loneliness that filled her heart. But why should she miss his touch? Sure, they may be past lovers, but she wasn't Oma anymore. She was Hisako and she did not love this waterbender. Sometimes she appreciated his company but… love? That was a little much.

"Let's dance," Genji suggested, taking her hand and interrupting her thoughts.

"B-but I'm not ready! I can't!"

"Of course you can," he scoffed. "Dancing is the way your heart talks without words. Even high-strung Fire Nation princesses can do it. Come on."

Hisako's heart pounded. "O-okay."

_A kiss as they lay in the stream._

He, the perfect gentleman, took the lead. He held up his hands as if he were about to spar with her. She assumed a stance as well. She blushed when she realized that he hadn't been as stiff as she had been in his stance. But he merely smiled reassuringly, and began to move, their extended arms touching.

As the beat changed slightly, he broke away, performing a basic passing motion with his arms. Traditional Fire Nation dance, she realized and grinned as she joined him, light on her feet.

_Fighting her in a sacred oasis. Fire against water._

She twirled, unleashing a ribbon of fire, carefully keeping it from burning anyone else. It surrounded her, showing off her curves. He responded by using a whip of his water as a gentle lasso to bring her back against him as she stopped her bending.

Genji and Hisako moved in unison, her lifting a leg as he trailed a hand down her thigh, bringing her knee to his hip. She leaned back and felt his hands holding her steady as his nose trailed up her body.

How was it even possible for that brush of feeling to be so good? It set off a trail of flame along her body, making her shiver as her body temperature ratcheted up.

Their eyes met for one searing instant before hers began to flicker closed as he leaned in. But the loud crash of clapping brought them back to reality. As they let go and sorted out limbs, the spell of the moment gone.

Then the stares set in.

"Hey, isn't that the Fire Nation princess who's missing?"

"And her fiancée?"

A pair of greedy eyes lit up at the fringe of the crowd as the teens ducked out of the spotlight. A ransom of those two could let him retire in a life of opulent leisure. He followed them, ready to find his treasure like any other good pirate.

_this is how we loved._

* * *

The attack came out of nowhere. They were surrounded by the pirate crew before she could respond. The couple had been unprepared, forced to their limits from the start. When things had gotten too nasty, Hisako had cleared a path for them for a few seconds with her fire. Genji had grabbed her hand, pulling her after him.

They had hid behind a fallen tree, hunkered together, panting for air.

The waterbender grasped her shoulders and turned her toward him. "Listen, Hisako, I'm going to do my best to give you a shot. I'll give them all I can. But while I do, promise me you'll run as fast as you can to the airship and get home."

"But—!" the firebender protested.

"_But even you admitted to your uncle that you would need help facing Azula."_

"…_And this way… no one else has to get hurt."_

Why did it seem like they were always trading places? Making the same mistakes in different ways?

"I can give you a chance to make it out. Hisako, please… I need you to be safe." He grasped her shoulders. "I… I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt because of me. Not again." His shoulders sagged in defeat. "I… I love you."

Her heart leapt into her throat as he leaned forward and slanted his lips across hers.

"I'll distract them. Just… don't play the hero this time."

Then he was running in, his water a tidal wave behind him, crashing down on the pirates. The firebender touched her lips, disbelieving that he had kissed her. He… he loved her. Her heart fluttered happily.

_Their lips touched, and she knew she would never be the same person she had been before this day._

_A gentle hand on his/her scar, soft and feminine. Memories._

"_What if I want a pretty, high-tempered, firebending princess in my bed?"_

She peaked out of her hiding place to see him outnumbered and outclassed. She was about to make her break when she saw a boulder hit him hard, sending him staggering into another attack.

"Genji!" Hisako screamed as his body hit the ground. She was running before she knew it. _Don't let him be dead! Don't die, Shu! Not now that I've finally found you! Don't leave me to love alone!_

But a barrage of blue flames stopped her. She recoiled from her own element.

Azula!

Hisako turned but all she saw is a pirate grinning wolfishly, not her sister with crazed yellow eyes and a broken smirk. There was no princess of a hopefully soon-to-be Fire Empire. No firebender with a drunken fighting stance and unkempt hair. Only a pirate whose grin was all victory.

And as he bent a fresh set of azure flames, Hisako let loose. Because this time, she was not the one on the ground dying. Genji was and she wouldn't let things end like last time, like the time before that. This time, everything was and would be different.

She let her element explode at his feet as she dodged his blast. She disappeared into the dust (just like when he tried to catch Aang by capturing Katara and that scroll). She knelt by Genji as she enveloped them in flames (the way the dragons had).

"Genji! Can you hear me?" Hisako asked. "Come on, answer me!"

But he was silent, his blue eyes that she loved so much closed.

"Damn it, Shu! Answer me!"

She hoped calling him by his name hundreds, maybe even thousands, of years ago will elicit a reaction. But Genji just stayed still, bleeding out on the ground.

"Katara, I need you to fix this!" she sobbed. "Genji! Please don't leave me!" Her tears fell on his cheeks, and she continued to plead with her lover, using every name she has ever called him. She ranted; she railed.

In her distress, the flames rose higher, hungrier, hotter. "I love you, so please! Don't leave me again!" She finally collapsed onto his chest, broken sobs consuming her words like the flames consumed their enemies, Kyoshi Island, the capital.

"Will you stop screeching already? I can hear you, stupid," Genji finally groaned.

Hisako pushed herself off him, tears spilling down her cheeks. Katara had done this as well after healing him.

"Genji!" she tackled him.

"Ow! Hisako, easy!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she whispered, peppering his face with kisses.

"What's gotten into you?"

"You." She pulled away for a bit. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He sat up. "Just a really nasty scratch." He glanced over at the princess. "I thought I told you not to play the hero."

"Well, what can I say? You make a terrible hero. I had to come to your rescue."_ I think we finally got it right…_

"They're dead?" he asked, motioning to outside their bubble.

"If they aren't, they're awfully quiet."

"Let's see."

Hisako let her flames die, and stillness greeted them. Nothing left but some ashes drifting in the wind.

* * *

After their fight, they rested in the airship, her leaning against his solid frame while his near arm wrapped around her shoulders.

The prince glanced down at his fiancée with those blue eyes she couldn't get enough of her. "So. Are you ready to go home yet?"

"No," she replied, smiling.

"What?"

"Because I'm already home," Hisako replied "My home is where you are. But I am ready to marry you."

_

* * *

_

_Once upon a time…_

"You may kiss your bride," the sage announced.

Genji threw her veil back before claiming Hisako's lips in a hungry kiss. She returned it, not even caring that this was probably scandalous.

Because both of their hearts were saying the same thing. _Home, home at last._ She had finally been reunited with her Shu for all time. Or was he her Katara?

No. He was her Genji. Hers, all hers.

The spirits and fates breathed in relief. Finally. The star-crossed lovers had finally broken the cycle. It was about time. They should've tried the whole arranged marriage card much earlier.

…_this is how I found my home._

_**The End**_

**A/N: At last! I've finished it! We get a happy ending. Quite honestly, I just finally got inspiration for this. I would love to write for these two but for the length of this fic, we're gonna just imagine the love-hate moments in the airship.**

**Hisako's and Genji's names were carefully chosen. I wanted them to have significance and hint at their past lives. Hisako means "child of an old story" or "long lived child" in Japanese while Genji means "two beginnings."**

**Um… yeah… I resisted the more perverted view of airbenders. They manipulate air. Think of the lung capacity on those girls! Ahem. Moving on.**

**Thank you for waiting so long while I tried to poke life into this thing.**


End file.
